Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) Professor Jon‑hwa Lee (Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine) has received the 8th Cargill‑Hanlim Life Sciences Award, the country's most prestigious award in life sciences. The award ceremony was held on February 6 at the Korean Academy of Science and Technology Hall in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

The award has been presented by the Korean Academy of Science and Technology with support from the Cargill AgriPurina Cultural Foundation since 2015. It is given to researchers who, based on an evaluation of their research achievements over the past five years, have attained the highest domestic and international recognition for outstanding research and development in the life sciences.

Professor Jon‑hwa Lee is an expert in zoonotic and animal infectious disease vaccines. He devised a bacterial antigen expression and delivery system and developed a 'bacterial delivery system vaccine platform' capable of expressing multiple target antigens simultaneously within host cells.

Professor Lee's vaccine platform is considered likely to contribute to the effective prevention of diseases such as African Swine Fever (ASF) and avian influenza (AI), which have recently caused severe economic and public health problems worldwide.

In a situation where the lack of effective and safe vaccines makes the development of new-concept vaccines for blocking transmission and preventing these infectious diseases urgently necessary, the vaccine platform developed by Professor Jon‑hwa Lee could provide an effective method to prevent fatal contagious diseases through bait vaccines based on this platform.

Regarding this, the Korean Academy of Science and Technology stated, 'Animal health is extremely important because it is directly linked to the health of humans who coexist with animals and contributes to establishing a stable social foundation,' adding, 'Professor Lee's research achievements are outstanding, demonstrating both the academic foundations and industrial contributions in this field.'

Professor Jon‑hwa Lee said, 'I am very pleased that efforts to develop vaccines that can prevent various infectious diseases causing significant damage to poultry farms worldwide have been recognized,' and added, 'My research team and I will devote ourselves to research so that better vaccines can be commercialized.'